No one has to be told how much we like Jim Lahey’s white pizza. Do you remember when Ed said that a full pizza bianca was the best thing to bring to a dinner party?
The good news is that Lahey has modified this recipe for My Pizza, and much like his other no-knead recipes, it is wonderful and really easy to make.
The dough should be put together between nine and twelve hours before baking so that it may rise and ferment until it has almost doubled in size. The super-sticky dough is then cut in half and given a second rising time of an additional hour to two. After getting the oven nice and hot, you’ll form the dough, make dimples in it with your fingers, then sprinkle it with rosemary and slide it onto a pizza stone.
It begins to bubble and buckle almost immediately, and after a few minutes, you have a beautiful pizza bianca that is just waiting to be seasoned with sea salt and olive oil. It’s stunning in its purity, with crispy and burnt spots contrasting with soft and pliable ones.
Lahey suggests serving it with a dish of ricotta for spreading if you want to spruce it up (we’ll take ours as is, thank you).
Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour, 200g (1 1/2 cups) + more for dusting
- Amount: 1g (1/4 teaspoon). 4 grams (half a teaspoon) of active dry yeast. 34 of a teaspoon’s worth of fine sea salt is 4 grams. Approximately 3/4 of a cup of sugar (175 grams) 20 fresh rosemary leaves and, if necessary, extra chilled water
- 4 g (one-half teaspoon) Roughly 30 grams of coarse sea salt (about 3 tablespoons) olive oil, extra virgin, for drizzling and for cooking the pasta.
Directions
1. Flour, yeast, fine sea salt, and sugar should be completely mixed in a medium basin. For a soft, loose dough, add water and stir with a wooden spoon or your hands for at least 30 seconds. It has to be somewhat sticky; if it’s not, add a little more water (up to 2 tablespoons).
2. Roll out the dough and lightly grease the interior of a big bowl. Leave the bowl covered with a plate or plastic wrap at room temperature (about 72°F) for at least 9 hours, and up to 12 hours, until the dough, has doubled in size.
3. Flour a surface well, then dump the dough out onto it. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a flat ball. In a warm, draft-free place, cover the dough with a very wet tea towel and let it rise until it has doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
4. In a gas oven, position the pizza stone so that it is 8 inches from the broiler half an hour before the end of the second rise. Prepare a baking temperature of 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius) and bake for 30 minutes. Take the meat out of the oven and broil it for 10 minutes.
5. Form one of the balls into a pizza pie and set it on a floured peel, as you would with any other dough. Toss in a quarter of the rosemary. Create dimples (impressions) all over the surface by pressing down with the tips of your fingers.
6. To transfer the dough to the baking stone, use a series of fast, jerking strokes. If it’s stuck, sprinkle extra flour on the peel and carefully pry it away from the surface. About 3 minutes and 30 seconds in the broiler should do it.
7. Put the peel beneath the pizza and slide it onto a cooling rack. Serve, leave to cool for a few minutes, then sprinkle with half the coarse salt and half the oil.
8. Proceed to form and broil a second ball in the same manner.
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